Ferrari can be quick in cool conditions too – Raikkonen

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In the round-up: Kimi Raikkonen believes Ferrari’s performance in the Malaysian Grand Prix wasn’t just down to the very hot weather.

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Kimi Raikkonen: Malaysia pace not just down to heat (ESPN)

"It might be the conditions (in Malaysia), very hot and good for us but I think even in Melbourne if we got behind them at the beginning I don't think they would have pulled away a lot."

Bottas says back will be '100 per cent' (Autosport)

"It was much better than Sunday in Melbourne which is good and the new driving position I had felt good."

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Comment of the day

@Andae23 got to see Max Verstappen racing in the brief window between him graduating from karts and his F1 drive being announced:

Was lucky to see him race before the Verstappen hype began to kick in here in Holland, when I was at the Masters of F3 weekend at Zandvoort in July last year. The entry field wasn’t that impressive due to a change in regulation and because of the F3 race in Moscow the week after. Verstappen was in the lead, built up a gap and managed it for the rest of the race. The best moment came when he mirrored his father’s win by picking up a Dutch flag on the victory lap.

Anyway, he has already done a great job to promote the sport here. Broadcaster Sport1 has exceeded the number of new costumers they were expecting by a mile, the Dutch press won’t shut up about him and even people who normally don’t show any interest for F1 seem to know his name already. People finally seem to be talking about Formula 1 again, which can only be a good thing. And who knows, eventually F1 might even come back from behind the decoder if he starts getting more successful.
@Andae23

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On this day in F1

Alain Prost won the Brazilian Grand Prix 30 years ago today as he began the season which would finally see him crowned world champion.

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56 comments on “Ferrari can be quick in cool conditions too – Raikkonen”

  1. Elon Musk, terrific tweet, but can Tesla customers afford a crew of 24 standing by to swap batteries and rotate the tyres in 2.4 seconds?

    1. Tesla drivers already need to have a co-driver on station by the large 17″ touch screen, as the driver is occupied watching the road. Without the tactile feel of physical buttons or the cross-over of the BMW I-drive system, You need a co-driver to use the rolling iPhone, which the Tesla is. Another flaw about the Tesla, which can’t be corrected by a SW update, is the sub-class seats.
      Hopefully the application of F1 techniques can develop Tesla into a good drivers car, where the handling can match the impressive powerlevel.

      1. Interesting you’re saying that about the seats and the handling. Everything I had heard/read about the Tesla was that it was one of the best cars out there in terms of overall ride and handling. And that’s compared to all cars, not just other electrics or hybrids.

        1. @robbie I’ll be happy to tell you first hand next Monday when I get to drive one for the day.

    2. That would the epitome of luxury.

      Good to see F1 influecing road car companies.

  2. With all respect to @andae23 and his excellent comment (COTD) re the importance of local heroes, I believe @robbie wrote the COTY yesterday on how to improve F1, if you haven’t read it you should, it’s near the end of the comments on yesterdays roundup.

    1. Yo, @andae23, I’m really happy for you, I’ma let you finish, but @robbie wrote one of the best comments of all time! One of the best comments of all time!

    2. Aw thanks man, @hohum Saw your response after that post too. You’re too kind.

      @Andae23 Your post reminds me of when Jacques Villeneuve was in F1. There was excellent multi-media coverage of F1 in Canada when he was in it, throughout his career too, not just because of his WDC. I can’t speak for Quebec and Montreal, as they may still pay closer attention other than around the GP, but here in Southern Ontario, unless you watch the race, you’ll have to seek out the results, with by far your best bet being TSN’s sportscast, and they’re the ones who air the races (the BBC coverage). Other media channels barely mention F1. Montreal GP being the exception.

      Interestingly as well, it was Gilles’ entry into F1 that brought television coverage to Canada to begin with. My fanhood goes back to library books on F1 until Gilles caused the CBC to air the races, and I’ve missed few since 78/79.

      I love hearing of Max reviving that same excitement there. I know what it’s like. I miss having a driver I’m passionate about, so I’m poised to back the next Senna. Going to be so exciting to see what evolves.

    3. Without a Dutch GP, the Belgian GP should witness an orange wave this year.

      1. @jcost Ugh. All we want is Vandoorne…

        1. confirmed! :)

          1. Tom (@11mcgratht)
            7th April 2015, 14:02

            lol @lheela it’s Kanye West all over again! :)

  3. CotD is brilliant, and of course there is a limit to how many nationalities there can be, but fewer grid spaces make that even worse.

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      7th April 2015, 2:24

      @strontium, the problem then is that F1 will have to go for flag-drivers (as apposed to pay-drivers) representing the most populous countries:
      1 China
      2 India
      3 United States
      4 Indonesia
      5 Brazil
      6 Pakistan
      7 Nigeria
      8 Bangladesh
      9 Russia
      10 Japan
      11 Mexico
      12 Philippines
      13 Vietnam
      14 Ethiopia
      15 Egypt
      16 Germany
      17 Iran
      18 Turkey
      19 Democratic Republic of the Congo
      20 France

      No more Hamilton (UK) or Alonso (Spain)

      1. Since when did Hamilton live in the UK? He is swiss duel citizen, nothing to stop him becoming DRC resident….

      2. For commercial reasons the list could be revised to take into account the realistic possible number of viewers and maybe their buying power:-)
        But I must advice Andae23 to enjoy the local F1 interest, for as long as it lasts (hopefully a long time). Last year the Magnussen effect was evident here in Denmark, and now it is rapidly declining again.

        1. The original Verstappen effect lasted quite a while in NL @palle (it lasted more or less until Spyker, Alberts and Doornos saw it dwindle), and if Verstappen stays in an sees some success, I think it might well fire up and last for another decade, to give the Sport1 deal a big boost (couldn’t really see it surviving without this)

  4. I think the advantage Ferrari have on tire degradation will be an asset throughout the year. It was probably at its most pronounced in Malaysia, but whatever secret sauce James Allison has brought over from Lotus will certainly be keeping the Merc strategists up late!

    1. Will be interesting. My gut tells me that they’ll have a bit of trouble getting heat into the tires at times. And that Mercedes will have an answer. Will undoubtedly dominate handily more than a few races yet. But if Ferrari can sustain it, great stuff. Will be near historic level of season-to-season comeback. Some say they already have, but I think we need the season to play out.

      1. @robbie they already had issues in Malaysia I think. Vettel could only take 4th spot using this first run (was initially 3rd but Verstappen demoted him). He did another hot lap using the inters which pushed him to third.

        But if they have a severe advantage with the softer tire, they can use it as their Prime tire and discard the ‘harder’ tire quickly. It will help with the lap times even if their engine is quite not upto Mercedes’ level.

    2. Agree with you that this Ferrari is reminiscent of the 2013 Lotus with which Kimi won with a similar strategy. That being say that Lotus didn’t win any more that season (though came tantalisingly close that season) and I am afraid (but hope not) it might be a similar story here. Mercedes has all the resources to hold the advantage they had, unless Ferrari engineers pull a rabbit out of the hat.

      What gives me some hope is that in addition to highly rate Alison, Rory Byrne is overseeing and advising the aero work. If only they could lure back Ross Brawn, they would have again the Ferrari juggernaut to mach the silver arrows.

      1. Well, Allison has said there are multiple rabbits to be pulled out of the hat this season, aero rabbits, PU rabbits… I just hope they don’t choke on their early success.

      2. If Ferrari do run close to Merc here, it will also be decision time to back a number one driver, because Ferrari always back a number one driver. I know which one I’d back.

      3. 2013 had very extreme wearing tyres compared to now, so i dont buy that comparison. Allison would not design a car around tyres, it will be a conincidence if the car is like the 2013 lotus. so far we have had one race, where ferraris tyre degratation wasnt all that much better then mercedes, the eye catching thing is that the ferrari car is fast.

  5. @andae23 The way F1’s set up though seems to mean there’s not a chance of F1 entirely coming from behind the decoder – cross the English channel and take a look!

    1. True, in fact the more people that watch F1 on FTA TV the more desirable it becomes to the pay to view business.

  6. I think there is something funny in Raikkonen ice cream!

  7. The cars back then look to be running much slower compare to modern f1.

    1. Tyres were hard enough that everyone made just one stop back then, even in the Brazilian heat. With the huge advances in rubber technology and aero over the last thirty years, it’s only reasonable to think they look slow compared to today’s machines.

      What’s really impressive is that those guys had just as much power on tap under their right foot as they do today. For me, just keeping those things on the tarmac for almost two hours deserves a standing ovation.

  8. In the French documentary on Bianchi, why does Anne Giuntini speak about Bianchi in past tense? Almost as if…you know…

    1. @wsrgo He corrected himself… but it was shockingly sad.

      The way they produced this video gave me the impression that they have little to no hope. Is still a miracle that he is alive. A hit to the head as innocent as it made seem, can enD so badly.

      1. The hit to the head was anything but innocent. It’s a miracle (or not depending on what way you look at it) that he survived at all.

        1. @mouse_nightshirt I actually was thinking in a young man, same age as Bianchi, who die today after bizarre fall and a hit to the head , that I will guess wasn’t nearly as strong as the one from Bianchi.

          The think is, the brain is fragile, after what happened today and watching this documental is a miracle Bianchi is still alive.

  9. Ferrari could be faster on Australia? Yeah.
    But how faster? Vettel leapfrogged Massa with 30 laps to go, struggled to keep a 4 secs advantage and lost 17 secs to both Mercedes while it.

    Ferrari is the 2nd force, ahead of Williams, but i doubt they are as close as they think they are. Maybe close enough to be 10 secs behind at the end of a race. And that’s still a mountain to climb.

    I believe Williams is still closer to them than they are to Mercedes.

    1. Why couldn’t have Vettel managed to keep a 4 sec gap only and not go after the Mercs? If they are only .3 or .5 slower than the Mercs, it still doesn’t make sense to chase after them since it is a lost cause.

      In that situation, Ferrari might well have asked Vettel to just keep a mangeable gap to Massa to preserve the engine considering it was the very first race of the season and nothing other than a 3rd place was attainable at that point. Vettel managed the job and got his reward as seen in the race.

    2. I think that after they passed Massa it became clear to them that they could neither catch Mercedes, nor Williams was in a position to get the 3rd place back. So given that they were already one car down, they decided to settle for the 3rd place. If Vettel was right behind the Mercedes, *maybe* he could manage to keep the gap smaller.

  10. To me Ferrari lucks a bit on power in comparison to MB this makes them to run the car with easy camber and Toe settings to reduce friction for speed gain, offcourse the car design is good to be able to do that.
    What Ferrari will do for cooler temperatures is to increase camber and Toe to be able to warm up more the tyres and this will make them to loose a bit of top speed but they will be ok in my mind its just they need another faultless Sunday.

    1. RealityCheck
      7th April 2015, 9:55

      Great analysis! I think you are spot on! They are using their best possibilities right now (best PU and more speed than last year) until new aero parts and more updates arrive for Europe.

  11. Alain Prost won the Brazilian Grand Prix 30 years ago today as he began the season which would finally see him crowned world champion.

    Nice find, and speaking of which, 1985 probably has one of the strongest and most competitive grids of all time. Prost, Lauda, Mansell, and Rosberg, Lauda were all in very competitive cars, and Senna and Piquet were in reasonably competitive cars. I can’t think of a single grid in the history of F1 which was quite this strong, apart from perhaps the 2012 grid.

    1. @kingshark I’d go for 2012 above 1985. Six champions (14 titles), in total ten GP winners on the grid. Fact we had 7 different winners from 7 races makes me choose ’12 over ’85 the most.

    2. The Mclaren might have been competitive for Prost but it wasn’t for Lauda in 85. He only finished three times.

  12. Must say that I am curious to see how Ferrari will fare in the next few tracks. Would be good if they are fast enough to keep Mercedes having to dig deep

  13. Funfact; Verstappen has a Belgian pasport and went to school in Belgium. He was born in Hasselt to a Belgian mother. The only Dutch thing about him is his father and his racing license, said by him that is the case because they were easier to get than a Belgian one.

    1. @xtwl I read and article that said his mother, divorced from his dad, say that the only passport Verstapen has is from Belgium

      ew
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      “He turns 18 on September 30, and on that date, and not before, he can opt for Dutch nationality.”
      #F1 News: Rumour – Alonso over-medicated after crash 05/04/2015 1:01pm
      2015
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      #F1 News: Mother insists Verstappen is Belgian
      GMMf1NET – April 5th – 1:01pm

      Apr.5 (GMM) Max Verstappen’s mother says the 17-year-old is in fact Belgian.
      The Toro Rosso rookie, now making waves as the youngest ever driver and points-scorer in F1 history, is the son of former grand prix star Jos Verstappen.

      Jos is Dutch, and Max now competes with a Dutch racing licence.

      But the youngster was, in fact, born in Belgium, the native country of his mother Sophie Kumpen.

      Kumpen is a famous female kart star, who fell out badly with Jos some years ago.

      Their dispute involved the police and went all the way to court, with Verstappen snr said to have been threatened with jail at one point for alleged harassment and assault.

      Now, Kumpen has told Het Laatste Nieuws, a Dutch-language Belgian newspaper, that her son is in fact Belgian.

      “The only identification that Max has is Belgian,” she claimed.

      “He turns 18 on September 30, and on that date, and not before, he can opt for Dutch nationality.

      “In the meantime, he is Belgian and nothing else,” Kumpen insisted.

      1. @celeste I was not aware they had dicorced. I give next to nothing about the drivers their love life, let alone that of their parents. I just hope they are all happy with whatever decision they make.

        On topic, I guess Verstappen will choose the Dutch nationality when he’s 18. It’s not like I was trying to claim him for Belgium. I’m a firm believer of Vandoorne his talents.

        1. It was a bit complicated if I remember right @xtwl – didn’t they divorce after some abuse and even being in court for things like stalking?

        2. @xtwl I didn´t knew either, until someone pont it out after Australia GP weekend and reading this article

          @bascb that´s seem to be the case.

          PD. Sorry for the way the article was posted, I didn´t from my phone.

    2. So does Max speak “Nederlands” with a Flemish or Dutch accent?

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        7th April 2015, 12:02

        @mike-dee,
        Dutch with an accent from ‘the Netherlands’, but travelling on a Belgium passport.
        Let’s call him Beneluxian!

  14. I think Kimi is right. I can understand why people might think he isn’t considering last season but I just remember the comments that came out after Jerez and how Ferrari were show boating. Anyway I’d rather they continue, wouldn’t mind another ‘shock’ victory by one of the boys.

  15. Ferrari were quite quick in the cold pre-season tests as well. OK, these early testing times are not that representative, but clearly they are not very slow in cold conditions.

    1. I am on the fence on this one

  16. @andae23 That’s a well-deserved COTD, buddy. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was a strong candidate :)

    Max Verstappen seems to be a likable character but different from Vettel and Hamilton, which is what F1 needs (ie. diversity). I am also happy that he represents Holland (no matter what his mum says :D) as I know a lot of Dutch F1 fanatics (some of them have become my friends), I have seen a lot of them at Nurburgring, Hockenheim and Spa and I know that they really deserve their own hero and their own race, which we will hopefully see one day.

  17. Kimi need more luck for the races.

  18. AndreaFomentonFIST
    7th April 2015, 22:25

    Hello, after first two races results curious I don’t find any of those stating Ferrari’s pace during winter trials was subject to light fuel boarding, also thinking there were tons of claim in this regard, now what about?

Comments are closed.